The Hut powers up with £80m warchest
ONLINE health, fitness and beauty retailer The Hut Group is set to ramp-up its growth in to new markets, including making strategic acquisitions, with a new four-year £80m funding facility.
The Northwich company, one of the region’s fastest growing e-tailers, has sealed a three-bank club deal with incumbent lender Barclays which has been joined by HSBC and Santander. The new debt facility replaces a £31m funding line with Barclays.
The Hut, which launched its first website a decade ago, now has a broad portfolio of consumer brands, including MyProtein, ProBikeKit, Coggles and LookFantastic. Together The Hut’s websites attract 300 million visitors a year.
A big part of its recent growth has been wooing non-UK based customers and becoming an international player is at the heart of its ambitions. The new funding will be used for general corporate purposes, including investing in its technology platform, integrating its supply chain and any further “strategic initiatives”.
Co-founder and chief executive Matthew Moulding said: “2014 has been a good year so far, with the group delivering +40% like-for-like sales growth in the first half of the year and earnings growth significantly ahead of this rate.
“This new facility provides us with a very powerful foundation to further differentiate our business model and expand both in the UK and internationally.”
Barclays co-ordinated the deal which was led by Richard Faulkner, Stephanie Gretton and Glenn Clarke. The HSBC team was led by Mark Rowan, with Andrew Mulliner and Charlotte Lees leading Santander.
The Hut Group was advised by a team from law Addleshaw Goddard led by Martin O’Shea, assisted by Laura Marr and Ricky Walker. Matt Morgan of Pinsent Masons advised the banking syndicate assisted by Pippa Whitmore, Seana Donaghy and Liam Terry.
Other highlights for The Hut in the last few months has been adding US buyout giant KKR to its shareholder base and agreeing a deal for a new 686,000 sq ft warehouse on the Omega business park near Warrington, although this has yet to be formally announced.
